


Deep Roots

by roane



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, First Kiss, First Time, Jedi Training, M/M, Mission Fic, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2016-02-09
Packaged: 2018-05-13 07:27:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5700013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roane/pseuds/roane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Poe, Finn, and Rey are caught in an uncertain triangle, each trying to find their own place with each other and in the galaxy. On a trip to Poe's homeworld of Yavin 4, Rey suggests an unorthodox solution. Things get even more complicated when each discovers a truth about their pasts.</p><p>Luke wishes they'd just talk to each other because if they don't sort things out, a powerful Jedi relic could fall into the wrong hands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Updating on Mondays until it's finished. :) Thanks to emmagrant01 for beta comments to get me on the right track!

Poe wished he’d been able to make his hair a little less unruly before leaving his quarters. Some days there was no taming those curls, and of course, today was one of those days. 

_You’re being ridiculous, Dameron_. He crossed the compound to Finn’s quarters, swallowing the worst of his nerves. The two of them had been spending a lot of time together lately, especially since Rey had returned to D’Qar with Luke Skywalker. _Luke Skywalker_. It still didn’t seem real. Poe had heard so much about him from his parents he felt as if Skywalker were family. 

Since his return, Luke was staying in seclusion, reportedly seeing only General Organa and… Rey. Judging from Finn’s complaints, Rey was spending almost every waking moment with him, training to use the Force. Well, Poe was happy to fill in for her, especially since the Starfighter Corps had been grounded for the past few weeks.

Poe paused outside of Finn’s quarters before pressing the signal button. He needed to get a handle on himself. Jess had already started to give him a hard time about his crush on the former stormtrooper, and while she’d been quiet about it, if _she’d_ noticed…

The thing was, Poe was too damn old to have a _crush_. It was infuriating. And yet, here he was, hesitating on the man’s doorstep. To hell with it. He pressed the button.

The door slid open almost immediately, revealing Finn. “Poe! Come in, you gotta see what Lieutenant Connix gave me.” He grabbed Poe by the arm and pulled him in. The quarters were spartan even by Resistance standards, little more than a bunk, a table, and a shelf. But oh, that shelf. It was crowded with Finn’s treasures. Finn, who had never owned anything, had become a collector with an indiscriminate eye. Pieces of interestingly-shaped junk lay next to potentially valuable souvenirs. Just the act of _owning_ something gave Finn a joy that was breathtaking to see. 

Literally breathtaking. Finn’s dark eyes glowed, his face lit with a bright smile. Oh Maker, Poe was in so much trouble. “Look at this holocube,” Finn was saying. “The lieutenant said it came from a planet called Shownar.” He turned the cube in his hands, showing Poe images of crystal spires, before putting it into Poe’s hand.

“Nice. You should see the real thing someday. When the wind is just right, they make this eerie sound I can’t describe. They call it a lullaby, but I don’t know if I could sleep to it. It’s a little creepy.” Poe was on the verge of babbling, just to distract himself from the brief warmth of Finn’s fingers against his.

“You’ll have to fly me there sometime.” Finn’s smile didn’t waver.

“I—yeah. Yeah! We should go.” They paused, looking at one another, before Poe handed him back the holocube. “You ready to eat, buddy?”

“Starving.” Finn headed for the door. “Rey said she might find us later. I think Skywalker is working her too hard. Do you think he might be? I mean, she’s tougher than me, but…” He walked out, still talking. Poe jogged to catch up, listening while Finn fretted about her all the way to the mess.

That was just the kind of guy Finn was. The first thing he did when he woke up from his injuries was ask if everyone was okay. Well. The first thing he asked was if _Rey_ was okay. Poe couldn’t find it in his heart to be too jealous. They’d been in terrible danger and well, Rey was pretty amazing. Poe could see what Finn saw in her. If Poe were a few years younger, he might be smitten too.

They got their food and were just about to sit when one of the junior officers approached their table. “Excuse me, Commander Dameron.”

“Yeah?”

“The general has asked to see you right away, sir. In her quarters.” The officer saluted, then turned on her heel and left.

So much for his lunch with Poe. “I’m sorry—” he started to say.

“Go,” Finn said. “That is one woman you do not want to keep waiting.”

It took Poe a moment to remember where the general’s quarters _were_. And why was he meeting her there? 

When the door slid open, he understood.

General Organa wasn’t there. Instead, he found himself facing Luke Skywalker. Rey was with him, standing at his shoulder. He wore the brown, outdated robes of a Jedi, and she was dressed similarly, which come to think of it, wasn’t so different from what she’d worn before.

“Sir!” Poe started to salute, then thought about bowing—how the hell did you address a Jedi, anyway? He went with the salute, sticking to what he knew. 

Commander Skywalker—Poe couldn’t think of him any other way—returned the salute with a ghost of a smile. “Commander Dameron.”

“I’m guessing it wasn’t the general who wanted to see me after all?”

“No, but I’d like to keep this between us.” Skywalker gestured at the seats. “Sit down. I have a favor to ask of you. And it is only a request, but I think you might be glad to hear it.”

They sat down, and Poe was conscious of Rey’s sharp, observant eyes moving between him and her teacher. “Anything I can do to help.” It was easier to see the man in front of him as a former Rebel pilot than as a Jedi master. 

“I was sorry to hear about your mother. Shara was a great pilot and good friend.”

“Thank you, sir.” It had been over twenty years, and Poe still missed her fiercely. “She spoke highly of you.” He laughed. “Highly enough that I think it made my father jealous now and then.”

“Kes should have known better. The only thing Shara loved more than him was you.” 

Poe had been expecting a stern, stoic man, in keeping with the bearded face and the troubled blue eyes, not the man sitting across from him with a quiet, nostalgic smile. “And flying, maybe,” he joked.

“Maybe a tie.” Commander Skywalker glanced at Rey, who returned a short, unreadable smile. “Poe, your parents are part of the reason I wanted to speak to you.”

Had something happened to his father? He hadn’t heard from Kes in a few days, but that wasn’t unusual. “Yes, sir?”

“I need to go to Yavin 4. With Chewbacca gone to Kashyyk, the _Millennium Falcon_ needs a co-pilot.”

Several things went through Poe’s mind. First of all, _co-pilot_ , why not pilot? But second, the _Millennium Falcon_. No way he could say no to a trip home aboard the _Falcon_ , pilot or no. Kes would burst his buttons. “Just say the word when. Who else is coming?”

“I haven’t—” Skywalker started.

Rey spoke at the same time. “Finn.” 

“Rey, I’m not sure about that,” Skywalker said.

“I am.” Her chin jutted out slightly, giving the impression of an immovable object. “He knows the _Falcon_ , and he’s good in a fight.”

“She’s right, sir. I’d trust Finn with my life.” He paused, then added, “Again.”

Rey nodded. “And we could use another gunner.”

Commander Skywalker looked between the two of them, and Poe would have sworn he felt those intense eyes scan into his very soul. “With recommendations that high, I’ll at least talk to him.”

#

Rey had a love-hate relationship with the training remotes. Especially when Luke made her put that stupid helmet on. Without the helmet, she could dodge and block just fine.

“It’s not about how well you can fight,” he’d said. “I know you’re good. It’s about learning a different way to fight.”

So here she was, unable to see anything, reaching out with the Force to track the little glowing orbs. Three of them circled her. Behind the helmet, she closed her eyes and let go. The lightsaber in her hands seemed to move of its own accord, swinging her around to deflect each bolt.

“You’re getting better,” Luke said, and lifted the helmet from her. 

She turned off the lightsaber and grinned. “I think it’s getting easier!”

He tossed her a towel and she wiped her face. While she cleaned up, he said, “You care about Finn a great deal, don’t you?”

Rey froze, then shrugged. “He’s my friend. He nearly died saving my life.” Finn came back for her. _He came back for her_. That was everything. That was why she felt so warm whenever he was around, like she was in the high noon sun on Jakku. 

“He’s a good man.” Luke’s voice was measured and calm. “Rey, be careful. Strong emotions can open the door into darkness. You’ve felt that. Hatred, fear, anger, the desire for revenge.”

Rey went over to him and sat. “Yes.” The shiver that passed through her was nothing but drying sweat. It had nothing to do with the voice she’d heard as she stood over Kylo Ren. Just cold.

“Not all strong emotions are negative. Love, for example. Love can be compassionate and full of light, but it can also feed jealousy, fear of loss. As a Jedi, you must be wary of this.” 

She knew all about loss. Maybe more than he knew. “Why are you telling me this now?”

“Because I’ve seen the way Finn looks at you, and how you look at him.” He paused as if he were going to say something else, then thought better of it. 

Rey’s cheeks burned. “I don’t know what you mean.” She did, though. She might have kept to herself on Jakku, but she wasn’t hopelessly ignorant. She’d listened to the gossip, watched couples courting between scavenging trips. Was that what she wanted with Finn? 

“Once, the Jedi were forbidden to marry, to have a family.” Luke glanced up at her, his head tilted curiously.

“What? Not have a family, but that’s—” _—all I want._ Rey took a few deep breaths to still her suddenly-racing heart. “Is that why you left yours?”

“No.” Even after this time, she still couldn’t get him to talk about why he’d left. He tucked his hands into his robes. “I said ‘once’. And there was a certain logic to it. Love, even love for friends and family, is like fire. It can warm us, keep us alive, but out of control, it can consume everything.”

She’d seen that on Jakku too. People died from love as easy as from thirst. “So what do we do?”

He answered her question with a question. “When you were on Starkiller base and you were afraid and angry, what did you do?”

Rey furrowed her brow. “I… nothing. I just… was. I couldn’t help being afraid. There was nothing to do about it, no way to fix it, so I was… just afraid. I still had things I needed to do.” It was a weak answer, she was sure of it.

Luke smiled at her though, as if she’d solved a puzzle. “Exactly. What about anger?”

“I wanted him to die,” she confessed, not needing to clarify whom she meant. “I thought he’d killed Finn, and I wanted to kill him.”

Luke’s voice softened. “Why didn’t you?” 

“Because it wouldn’t have fixed anything. It wouldn’t have brought back Finn or Han. It wouldn’t have stopped the First Order. It just would’ve been… because I was mad.” She paused, then added, “And I don’t think Han would have wanted that. Or the general.”

“You’re already starting to learn the secret.” Luke pressed his hands to his knees and rose to his feet before offering her a hand up. She hadn’t realized how rubbery her legs had become from practice. “With the Force, you’ve already learned that sometimes you must let it use you as much as you use it. With our feelings, however, the secret is not to let them use you. You cannot change them, or ignore them, or fight them. But, like the Force, you can let them flow through you. They do not have to control you.”

“I don’t understand.”

“There may come a time when your feelings for your friends must come second to your duty.” Luke squeezed her hand and let go. “Or there may come a time when fear and anger feel like the strongest powers in the world, growing out of love. If that happens, come to me. You won’t face it alone.”

It felt a little bit like a blessing. But for what, she couldn’t say.

#

Finn still couldn’t believe it. He was going on a mission with _Luke Skywalker_. It was enough to make his hands sweat just thinking about it. _Skywalker_ was the name they used to scare each other with as kids. Saying his full name on a dare. He was the specter who haunted their training, the monster under the bunk. 

_“I heard that he laughed while he killed an entire space station._ Twice. _”_

_“Well, I heard he cut Darth Vader to bits!”_

Finn never expected the boogeyman to look so sad. And he didn’t expect to feel jealous of him. 

Rey was the one who brought him to Skywalker, and she stood by Finn’s side while Skywalker questioned him. When Finn was too overwhelmed to answer at first, Rey nudged his arm and gave him a smile. If it hadn’t been for her, he would have thought the whole thing was some sort of trap. Or that the Resistance wanted to use him as bait for something.

But no, Rey and Poe were going on a mission, and they needed an extra pair of hands. Skywalker mentioned that both of them had spoken highly of him, and Finn glowed. He forgot, for a moment, some of his resentment towards Skywalker.

He knew it was a little childish, but Finn missed his friends. Rey was spending all of her time with Skywalker. And when she wasn’t with him, she was talking about him. Finn tried to understand. Rey had never belonged anywhere, and now here she was, someone special. Of course she was excited about it. 

And Poe had a job to do. Everyone had a job to do. Finn hadn’t found his yet. Poe tried to tell him that he was still healing, that he should take it easy. He was long past healed, though, and was ready to do something more. 

The truth was, he was still an outsider in a lot of ways. General Organa had been nothing but kind to him, and made it clear that he was part of the Resistance, but Finn saw the glances and whispering behind hands. There were plenty of people who didn’t quite trust a former stormtrooper yet.

He suspected that was the real reason no one had given him a real job to do. So when Poe and Rey weren’t available, he spent a lot of time trying to catch up on the world he’d never seen. He read everything he could, watched old holovids. Talked to anybody who’d give him the time. The galaxy was nothing like he’d been taught. It kept him busy, and distracted him from some of his more confusing thoughts, the ones he didn’t dare put a name to.

But maybe now he did have a job to do. Maybe this was the start of a change. He couldn’t mess this up. So, getting ready for the journey to Yavin, he focused on Luke Skywalker instead of on what it might be like to spend an extended period of time with both Rey and Poe. 

They were already on board when he carried his small bag of belongings onto the _Falcon_. Poe literally dropped what he was doing and rushed over, first clapping Finn on the shoulder then giving him a hug. “I was starting to get worried!”

Rey poked her head out of the hole in the deck before vaulting up, joining them. She grabbed the side of him that Poe hadn’t claimed and Finn just stood there, smiling wordlessly between them.

There wasn’t a word for this that he knew, other than _right_. Right here, right now, he was on the inside, between the person who gave him a name and the person who gave him something to fight for.

Who knew how long they might have stood there, but for the sound of a throat clearing behind them. “Rey, how long before we’re ready to take off?” Skywalker came up the ramp, his robes flowing behind him.

Rey practically jumped away from Finn. “Just a few more minutes, master. I need to re-check the power couplings.”

Poe snapped to attention. “Sir, the supplies are all on board.” 

Rey called him ‘master’, Poe called him ‘sir’, and Finn still wanted to sink into the ground and hide whenever he appeared. Every time he half-expected Skywalker to pull out a lightsaber and cut him to ribbons. He ducked his head and stowed his gear before disappearing to the cockpit.

He buckled himself into the seat behind the co-pilot, knowing that from this angle he’d be able to see Rey’s profile while she flew, and watch Poe’s hands on the controls. Why both were so important to him he wasn’t sure, but they were. 

He didn’t have much time to himself before Skywalker came in and sat next to him. Finn’s hands started to sweat, and the scar on his back seemed to burn in memory. _Stay calm, he’s one of the good guys. And you are too now._

Still, a lifetime of stories was hard to shake, and Finn felt a lot better when Poe showed up. Poe squeezed his shoulder and some of Finn’s fear drained away. 

“You still haven’t said, where on Yavin 4 are we going?” Poe slid into his seat and buckled in.

“Your home,” Skywalker said as Rey came in.

“I’d hoped as much,” Poe said, “but what’s our objective?”

“Your home,” Skywalker repeated, with an enigmatic smile.

“We’re taking Poe home?” Rey asked. “Why?”

“I gave a gift to his mother once,” Skywalker said. “A very long time ago. I need to take it back.” He refused to say anything more.

Poe and Rey exchanged glances, and Poe shrugged. “I don’t know what he means, but my father is going to be over the moon to see us.”


	2. Chapter 2

Would she ever get used to so much green? Rey carefully guided the _Falcon_ to the landing space Poe pointed out to her, hyper-aware of the tree branches reaching toward them like long fingers. And they weren’t just green, either. Some of them were shades of brilliant red, yellow, and orange. The _Falcon_ touched down and Rey went through the landing routine, shutting the ship down. Poe followed her lead, although he had so much more experience than she did—she had been half-tempted to ask him to pilot instead.

But in a very real way, the _Falcon_ was hers now. Chewie had waved off his claim, saying even he was getting too old to keep running around the galaxy. General Organa told her, “Han would have wanted someone who loved her to have her.” Poe seemed to respect that, and for that, Rey’s affection for him grew. She’d gotten so used to having to defend her skills, to prove herself over and over again to everyone who underestimated her. It was nice to be accepted without a question.

Before they could disembark, an older man with brown skin and salt and pepper hair ran into the clearing, looking up at the _Falcon_ with wide eyes. 

“Dad!” Poe exclaimed and bolted from the cockpit. The rest of them followed in time to see father and son embracing enthusiastically and both talking at top speed.

“Is that the _Millennium Falcon_? I cannot believe you flew in here on—”

“Dad, you’re not going to believe who’s with me—”

“—whoever let your reckless ass fly here in—” Kes broke off as the rest of them came down the ramp. “I don’t believe it.”

Finn and Rey flanked Luke as they left the _Falcon_ , and Kes jogged over to them.

“I can’t believe it’s really you,” he said. “I thought—well, I hope you’ll forgive me for saying so—I thought you were dead.”

“Thought I was too, a couple of times.” Luke broke into a grin the like of which Rey had never seen before. The years fell away from his face. “Kes Dameron.”

“Luke Skywalker.”

The two men embraced, thumping each other on the back. Luke shook his head. “Look at us. We got old.”

“Well it beats the hell out of the alternative.”

For his part, Poe looked stunned to see his father so familiar with a legend. Kes grabbed Poe around the back of the neck and hauled him in. “What do you mean showing up with company and no warning, boy?” He was grinning as he said it. “And who are your other friends?”

Luke answered before Poe could. “This is Rey, my apprentice, and Finn.”

Kes’s eyes widened at the word “apprentice” and Rey thought he probably knew what had happened with Luke’s last apprentices. “Come on in, all of you. Are you hungry?” He ushered them down a wooded path to a weathered but neat dwelling. It was colder than Rey was used to, and damp. She pulled her jacket tighter around her and lagged behind with Finn, while Luke, Poe, and Kes led the way.

There was something else, a stirring in the atmosphere. No, not the atmosphere, the Force. Something was happening here, and it was something big. Rey stopped walking at first to stretch out with her growing awareness, trying to find the source of the feeling. It lay ahead of them, but she couldn’t tell anything else about it.

“You okay?” Finn asked. He always asked that. It was like Poe and his instant acceptance of her, only better.

“Yeah, just cold.”

“You’re always cold.” He nudged her with his shoulder.

“Well yeah, desert planet.” She grinned up at him and he grinned back. Maybe this was what Luke had meant when he said he’d seen the way they looked at each other.

“Hurry up, you two!” Poe called. The others were far ahead.

Without thinking too much about it, Rey grabbed Finn’s hand and started to run, pulling him with her. When they caught up to the others, she didn’t let go, and neither did he. Touching someone like this, on her terms, was new. It fluttered in her belly, exciting and terrifying like the first time she tried sledding down one of Jakku’s giant sand dunes. A little free, a little out of control. She didn’t like being out of control—usually. Touching Finn felt... almost too out of control.

But the thing was, there was more to worry about than how Finn looked at her or how touching him felt. She’d seen the way Poe looked at him too, like a starving man. Too many times on Jakku she’d watched people tear themselves to bits with jealousy, and she wanted no part in it, not in feeling it or causing it. Luke was right, that side of love was too close to the Dark Side. She wasn’t sure how to avoid it, not yet.

Finn’s hand stayed in hers, keeping her warm, until they crossed the threshold into the Dameron house. Houses would never cease to fascinate Rey. She understood shelter. She was an expert at finding it, at constructing it, but the fact that most people who lived on planets lived in structures specifically designed and built from scratch to serve as a permanent shelter—the thought of that kind of wealth frightened her at first. It didn’t take long to realize that for most people, it wasn’t wealth, it was a necessity, especially living somewhere cold and where there wasn’t enough scrap material to make a lean-to. Logic said that she must have lived in a house when she was small, but her memories still didn’t reach back quite that far, only vague images.

The Dameron house was high-ceilinged but cozy anyway, and Kes settled them around a table with steaming mugs of tea. “So what brings you all the way out here? I know you’re not just dropping in to say hello.” Kes eyed them shrewdly, focusing on Luke.

“I saw the tree growing in front of the house,” Luke said. “It’s not native to Yavin.”

“Shara told me where it came from.” Kes cut him short with a smile. “You don’t need to play the enigmatic Jedi.”

“It’s the only one of its kind left. I’d like to remedy that.”

“The other piece...?” Kes didn’t finish the thought.

“At the first academy,” Luke said.

“Wait.” Poe looked between them. “The Coruscant tree? We came here for that? I thought it was just a tree.”

Luke turned to Rey. “Is it, Rey?”

Why was he asking _her_ , she’d never seen this tree—then she remembered the sensation walking toward the house. She took a deep breath and reached out, trying to let go and be open to whatever—and _there_. She felt it again. Vibrant, shimmering, and now that she knew it was a tree, the size and shape made sense. “Oh no,” she said. “That’s... definitely not just a tree.” The Force emanated from the tree, old and deep and strong. It was like a beacon calling her—not to it, but rather to a deeper, inner part of herself. Somewhere she wasn't prepared to go. The tree's power was immense enough that dragged her inward, the same way that Luke's lightsaber had on Takodana, only much much stronger. It threatened to overwhelm her and drag her under, until she sensed Luke’s presence within, moving between her and the tree like tossing a rope to someone caught in the Sinking Sands. Finally she was able to disengage.

She tried to catch her breath, aware of everyone’s eyes on her. Finn reached for her hand, but she couldn’t, not right now. She folded her hands in her lap instead.

“I should have warned you,” Luke said. If he hadn’t been there, as a buffer and a guide... Rey shivered. She glanced at Finn, who still looked worried, then at Poe, who was trying not to look at Finn.

A buffer. The faintest glimmer of an idea started to form in her head.

Then Luke started explaining what he needed, and she put the idea away so she could focus.

#

Their tea grew cold while Luke told them about the tree. He addressed most of the story to Poe, who found the attention disconcerting. “You were too young to remember, but your mother’s last mission for the Rebellion was with me.”

“She didn’t talk about it much,” Kes said. “Not even to me.” Was his hair grayer than it was before? Poe tried to remember the last time he’d been home. Had it been that long?

“But you knew the tree was... special.” Poe didn’t phrase it as a question. All he had known about the tree was that it had been a gift to his mother, and that none of his playmates on Yavin had one like it in their yards. The trees on Yavin were tall and straight, the Coruscant tree was broad, almost as wide as it was tall. He'd learned to climb in its branches, and had learned that heights were something to be enjoyed, not feared. Rey, apparently, had recognized something more about it.

Kes smiled and his eyes took on a distant cast, seeing something far beyond the cozy dining area they were in. “She told me that much. She was more than a little star-struck when she got home.  Of all the people we fought alongside, you were the only one that intimidated her a little.”

Poe couldn’t blame her for that; Luke certainly intimidated him enough.

“I don’t believe that for a second,” Luke said. “She intimidated about as easy as Leia does.” He went on. “The Emperor managed to destroy almost all of the ancient Jedi relics and artifacts, but I’d heard rumors of a few he’d kept aside for his own purposes. Shara got us into an Imperial research base on Vetine.”

“They were keeping a tree there?” Finn sounded skeptical. “I don’t get it, what’s so special about this tree? Was the Emperor a gardener or something?” He caught Poe’s eye and grinned. Poe ignored the little flip his stomach gave.

“There were two fragments of a tree that grew in the courtyard of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. For hundreds, maybe thousands, of years, that tree grew, bathed in and surrounded by the Force. The tree itself became a powerful entity, almost a teacher in it own right, guiding students in some ways, pushing them in others.” Luke closed his eyes, as if viewing the memories. “Shara and I took the two remaining fragments. I gave one to her, and planted the other.” His eyes opened. “It has since been destroyed. The tree outside here is all that remains.”

“You can’t take an entire tree, can you?” Rey asked. “I don’t think there’s room in any of the _Falcon’s_ cargo holds.”

“I wouldn’t dream of taking a gift back entirely,” Luke smiled. “But we can take cuttings, plant them elsewhere.” He turned to Kes. “It might take some time. Rey and I will have to prepare the tree before we start cutting. We’ll stay out of your way as much as we can.”

“That’s no problem at all. I can think of a few chores I could use a hand with.” Kes directed his words to Poe, who groaned.

“I learned how to fly so I could get out of those chores.”

Kes clapped him on the shoulder. “First thing, you should get everyone’s things off that ship so I can get your rooms ready.”

“Yes, sir.” Poe stood, resigned.

Finn jumped to his feet. “I’ll help you.” Rey started to join them, but Finn shook his head with a grin. “You get to figure out how to trim a tree.”

“I will need your help, Rey,” Luke agreed.

Poe ducked out into the Yavin twilight with the weird sensation that Luke had just helped make sure that he and Finn were alone for a bit.

Finn caught up to him. “Sounds like I tagged along on this trip for nothing.”

“I dunno.” Poe glanced over at him sidelong. “You can keep me company while the mystical types are doing their thing.”

“That’s true—wait. Did you just sign me up to help you with your chores?” Finn whacked him on the shoulder, laughing.

“Don’t listen to my dad. This place practically runs itself.” He bumped against Finn half on purpose, as if his body were drawn into Finn’s orbit. That wasn’t far wrong, come to think of it.

They walked in companionable silence until the _Falcon_ came into view. “Everybody packed light, right?” Finn climbed up the ramp.

“Unless you brought your whole junk shelf with you.”

“Hey! It’s not junk, it’s a _collection_.”

Poe couldn’t resist. “Yeah, a collection of junk.”

Finn ducked back down the ramp, charging him. “You take that back!” He was trying to keep the grin off his face.

Poe didn’t even try. He tried to dodge Finn, but good in a cockpit didn’t mean good on his feet. Finn caught him around the middle and they tumbled to the ground like a sack of Jogan fruit, both laughing. Finn tried to pin his arms, but Poe managed to keep his hands free so he could fight dirty: he went for Finn’s underarms.

Turned out that stormtroopers were ticklish.

In a matter of seconds, Poe had the upper hand despite his comparative lack of hand-to-hand experience, wriggling his fingers along Finn’s sides until he got the leverage to flip them both over. Finn shrieked like an overexcited R2 unit and Poe stopped out of mercy.

“You better hope they didn’t hear that at the house.” Poe tried to catch his breath, still half-heartedly trying to pin Finn down.

“Wouldn’t be the first time Rey’s saved my ass.”

“Except this time she would totally be on my side.” Between the giggling and the panting, Poe failed to realize that he was straddling Finn’s hips at first. Then he caught Finn’s hands and pressed them to either side of Finn’s head and something shifted between them. “Besides, do you really want her to see you like this?” It came out breathier than he intended.

Finn opened his mouth, then closed it. Poe knew he did, because he couldn’t stop looking at his mouth. “I don’t know if she would approve,” Finn said weakly.

It would be so easy to close the little distance that remained between them, for Poe to lean down and press his mouth to Finn’s, just once, just to see what it was like. He wanted to. But Finn—Finn looked uncertain enough that Poe couldn’t do it. Instead he pushed himself to his feet and offered Finn a hand up.

The inside of Poe’s mind was spinning. It was hard to let go of Finn’s hand. A loss of warmth. He knew what the score was. Finn cared about Rey, and she probably cared about him. He needed to let go of more than just Finn’s hand, or he was going to wind up with a broken heart. “Come on, they’re gonna think we got eaten by howlers.”

“Do I want to know what those are?”

“No, unless you’re a fan of giant carnivorous lizards.” Poe boarded the _Falcon_ and started rounding up everyone’s belongings. There really wasn’t much, and between the two of them they could carry it all in one trip. They walked back through the woods to the house where Poe had spent the first eighteen years of his life.

It seemed so small now, compared to Poe’s memories. One of his earliest memories was of running to greet his parents when they came home from the war, running down the same path he was on right now. In his memories, everything towered over him, and now both the trees and the house were strangely diminished. The only thing not diminished was his father.

“I was about to come out and look for you,” Kes greeted them. “Poe, help me get the guest rooms ready.”

#

Civilian beds felt strange to Finn. The bunks on First Order ships were designed for maximum efficiency, interchangeable, just big enough to fit the average stormtrooper and no bigger. His bed on D’Qar was a little better, but it was still ultimately military gear on a military base. The guest room that Poe showed him to was lush with warm fabric drapes, pillows piled on top of pillows, and a mattress so soft Finn wasn’t sure he was lying on anything at all.

He couldn’t sleep. Despite the lateness of the hour, the faint sound of Poe’s dad and Skywalker talking carried to him across the house. They had started on war stories after dinner, and showed no signs of slowing down when the other three were yawning. Apparently once his other guests were seen to, Kes had gone back to talking.

Finn lay in the too-soft bed and listened to the murmuring of the two older men, trying not to think of what had happened out at the _Millennium Falcon_. Which was a joke, because he couldn’t stop thinking about it. He could still feel the weight of Poe’s body against his. Finn had _wanted_. Something. It wasn’t that he was fully ignorant of these things. Stormtroopers didn’t... well, they just didn’t. Now that he could, he didn’t know where to start.

Poe had been about to kiss him. Finn wanted him to kiss him. Then Poe had asked if Finn wanted Rey to see him like that, and the bottom had dropped out of Finn’s world.

He did want that. But he also didn’t. He didn’t know what he wanted where Rey was concerned, but he wanted something. It was different from what he felt for Poe, but it was there. So instead of kissing Poe, he’d frozen until Poe pulled away from him. He still wasn’t sure he’d done the right thing.

He was still wondering when his eyes finally closed.

The next morning, Finn was up before everyone else, at least, that’s what he thought. Voices drifted to him from the front of the house and he followed the sound. Skywalker was sitting on the ground in front of a tall, broad tree, and Rey was standing in front of him, moving through a series of forms. The forms were unfamiliar to Finn, but he recognized them as some variety of martial art. She moved with liquid grace that took his breath away. It was one thing to see her fighting for her life—and he certainly had. It was something else entirely to see her moving for the sake of movement itself. Her face was a serene mask despite the beads of sweat gathered on her face in the humid morning air.

If he were logical in the slightest, he would be afraid of her. She was not only training under the man Finn grew up terrified of, but she had the same sort of power that he did. The same sort of power that Kylo Ren had. The Force. The mystical bedtime story that wasn’t a bedtime story after all. But he wasn’t afraid. Not of Rey, at least. He saw her power, but he also saw the girl who grew up alone like he did. He saw the girl who’d helped a droid in need—a droid! And he saw the girl who had saved Finn’s life, more than once.

He’d trusted her with his life this far; he wasn’t going to stop now. If anything, her power made her more alluring. Being around Poe was like doing a corkscrew spin in the jump seat of a TIE fighter. Being around Rey was like... like standing next to a power pylon and feeling the hum, letting it make your hair stand on end.

“Do you feel the difference here?” Skywalker was asking her.

Rey nodded, not even pausing in her sweeping arm motions. “It’s easier. Clearer.”

“That’s the tree. Jedi at the temple used the tree in two different ways. They used it as a meditation focus, allowing them to go deeper within than they could alone—you experienced a little of that last night. But they also discovered that it was easier for the students to learn to manipulate the Force when they were near it, it’s easier to reach, somehow.”

Finn needed to clear his throat or say _something_ , before he overheard some sort of secret Jedi training he wasn’t supposed to know about. What came out of him was halfway between a cough and an _ahem_.

“Are you all right?” Rey instantly asked.

“Yeah, I, uh, swallowed a bug, I think.” _Smooth recovery, FN-2187_. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”

“It’s time for a rest anyway.” Skywalker moved to stand, waving off Rey’s offer of assistance. “Come back after breakfast and we’ll start work preparing the tree for cutting. I’ll need your help.”

“Okay.” Rey took Finn by the hand like she had the night before, and Finn had to keep from squirming at the flush of warmth that crawled up his face. She talked to him the entire time she walked to her room, about her training, about the tree—which apparently really did emanate the Force. Finn could barely hear over the sound of his heart racing. Once they got to her room she sat him down. “Wait here.”

Finn sat in the edge of her bed while she ducked into the refresher and tried to figure out what was going on. By the time she came back, toweling off her hair, he’d worked himself into a state of utter confusion. She plopped next to him and took his hand again.

“You were my first friend,” she said. “Did you know that?”

He shook his head, something in his chest crumpling. He’d known she was alone, but not how alone. For all that he’d never fit in with the First Order, at least he’d had squadmates.

“I like touching you.”

What the hell did he say to that? None of the holovids he’d watched had covered this. “Uh, I like touching you too.”

She smiled, but it wasn’t the full, bright smile he’d come to expect. It was quieter, almost shy. “But. I think there’s someone else you might like to touch too.”

Finn opened his mouth. Then closed. Then opened it, but what was he going to say?

Rey laughed at him, the shyness vanishing. “Oh come on. Poe’s been following you around with stars in his eyes ever since I’ve known him.”

He thought the words first, then had to force himself to say them out loud. “But—but I like you both.”

“I know.” Of course she knew, she knew everything. “I don’t know if I’m that person though. I like this.” She squeezed his hand. “I don’t know if I would like anything else, beyond _this_.” Rey bumped him with her shoulder and grinned. “And well—it’s pretty obvious that Poe _would_.”

Poe wasn’t the only one. Finn tried not to think about what had happened the night before, just in case Rey could read his mind. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that you should talk to Poe. As long as I can still hold your hand, be with you, I’ll be happy. And you’ll be happy. And Poe will be happy.”

Maybe someone who’d had a normal childhood around normal people could have come up with something to say, but Finn was speechless. Finally he managed, “I don’t want to hurt you, though.”

Rey gave him that _look_. That look that said _you’re very sweet but sometimes not very smart_. “If you and Poe are happy and if he doesn’t keep you all to himself, I’ll be happy.” She leaned up and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. “Luke says it will take a few days for us to get the cuttings from the tree, so you’ll have plenty of time to talk to Poe. Will you do it?”

“You really want me to.” Finn’s head was spinning.

“Am I going to have to lock you two in a room?” she teased.

“I’ll do it. I’ll talk to him.”

“Good.” She stood and hauled him to his feet. “Let’s go get something to eat.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's where we start to earn the M.

Poe knew something was different the moment he saw Finn and Rey come in for breakfast. He had just settled in, a plate full of all the fresh Yavin fruits he couldn’t get anywhere but here, when they walked in from the direction of Rey’s room, holding hands. His appetite vanished.

 _Looks like you’re out of luck, Dameron_.

He’d known it was coming, but it didn’t make the reality any easier.

“Morning,” Rey said, all sunny smiles.

“Hey.” Poe returned the smile on automatic, and forced himself to include Finn in the greeting. As much as he wanted to just sort of slink away and sulk, his pride wouldn’t let him do that. “There’s a ton of food on the counter, just yell if you can’t find anything.” He didn’t want to think about how early Kes had gotten up to make sure there was food ready. Tomorrow he’d be sure to get up early as well, to help.

Rey didn’t have to be asked twice, and started filling her plate. Her appetite was both endearing and a little scary. Like the girl herself. Finn lingered behind, an uncertain look on his face.

“Congratulations,” Poe murmured. “I’m glad you got things sorted.”

“Wait, it’s not like you—”

“Poe! There you are.” Kes came in from outside and thumped Poe on the shoulder. “Finish eating. I need your help in the northwest clearing.”

Poe ate a couple of hasty bites, then stood. “I’m done. Ready when you are.”

“Can I help?” Finn asked.

Kes looked him over. “You know anything about mending fences?”

Finn looked like he was going to lie. He was about the worst liar that Poe had ever met and should really just give up trying altogether. Poe decided to spare him the trouble. “He can hold things in place,” he said. “We could use another pair of hands, right?”

“Always can,” Kes said. “Come on then.” They followed him out to the speeders. Finn climbed on behind Poe while Kes took the one carrying the equipment. The path to the northwest clearing of the ranch was an old familiar one, and Poe spent the trip marveling at how little the forest had changed since his last trip home. The only odd thing—he should be hearing the constant sound of the runyips digging for their forage. It was a sound he’d grown up knowing, and he’d barely heard it at all since coming home. Worrying as the thought was, it kept him from focusing on the feel of Finn sitting pressed against his back. He wasn’t thinking about that _at all_.

The fences on the ranch were old and in a continual state of needing repair. Poe often wondered why his father didn’t just replace them all at once, but he suspected that Kes enjoyed having a project to work on more. An entire section of the clearing fence was down, and promised to be a morning-long chore. The three of them unloaded the speeder and got to work.

Why had Finn elected to come out here and work when he could have stayed at the house with Luke and Rey? Was he that afraid of Luke? Finn hadn’t said anything about it, but Poe knew. He’d seen how Finn’s shoulders tightened whenever Luke spoke to him, and how he almost never looked directly at the Jedi Master. Whatever the reason, Poe couldn’t decide if he was glad to spend time with him, or if he wished Finn would go away so he could sulk in private.

“So, Finn.” Kes finally spoke after they’d been working for about an hour. “Have you been with the Resistance long?”

“Not long.” Finn didn’t try to lie this time, thank the stars.

“Where are you from originally?”

Poor Finn, he looked trapped. He gave Poe a desperate look. _Help me_ , it said. “You can tell him,” Poe said. “It’s all right.”

“I don’t know.” Finn clutched the fence wiring Poe had just handed him. “I was a... a stormtrooper.”

Kes stared at him, midway to reaching for a pair of pliers. “First Order?”

“Dad, he got me out.” Poe hadn’t wanted to tell his father about being captured, but now was as good a time as any. “They caught me on Jakku, and Finn—” here he grabbed Finn by the shoulder and squeezed “—Finn rescued me because it was the right thing to do.”

“I thought they brainwashed their—”

“I know!” Poe still could scarcely imagine the force of will it had taken for Finn to throw off his conditioning. “But he fought it and beat it. And speaking of fighting, you should see him in one. We’re damned lucky to have him.”

“I see.” Kes looked between them, and Poe had the sinking feeling that he really did see, far more than Poe wanted him to. “Well, I’m glad you’re here, Finn.”

After another bit of fence was repaired, Kes turned to Finn. “I left our canteens on the speeder. Do you mind going back and getting them?”

“Sure.” He trotted off.

Once he was out of earshot, Kes smiled. “He’s a good man, then? You’re happy?”

“Dad!” Poe’s face heated up. “It’s not—he’s with Rey. Not me.”

“The Jedi girl?”

Poe nodded.

“Then why has he been following you around like a lost pup?” Kes deftly twisted two new extensions of wire together.

“He hasn’t been—”

Kes silenced him with a look.

“But it’s not like that,” Poe protested.

Kes hmphed. “I wouldn’t be young again for all the credits in the galaxy. Blind and foolish, the lot of you.”

Thankfully, he didn’t say anything else before Finn came back with two canteens. He handed one to Poe and one to Kes. After they’d all had a drink, Kes said, “I need to go check on something back at the house. Can you two finish this on your own?”

“Uh, sure.” Poe cringed internally. _Subtle, dad. So subtle._

“All right, I’ll see you back at the house.” He took the speeder without the equipment and left.

“He doesn’t like me, does he.” Finn wouldn’t look at him, just focused on cutting down a damaged piece of fencing. “I mean, I get it, if a former stormtrooper showed up at my house, I wouldn’t be thrilled either.”

“Hey.” Finn ignored him, so Poe grabbed the spanner in Finn’s hands to get his attention. “ _Hey_. It’s not that at all.”

“Well he took off outta here pretty quick.” Finn still wouldn’t look at him.

“I swear to you, buddy, that wasn’t it.” Was Poe going to have to say it aloud? Could he?

“You sure?” Now Finn looked up at him, his dark eyes soft with vulnerability. Poe wasn’t sure he’d ever known anyone who wanted so badly to be accepted, to be liked. Maybe that’s what made him say what he said next.

Poe rubbed his hand over his face and crouched next to Finn. “Look, he—he has the wrong idea. About us. I tried to tell him about you and Rey, but he didn’t listen.” The morning was still relatively cool, but Poe’s cheeks were on fire.

“Wait, he thought that you and I were... together?” Finn glanced back the way Kes had vanished, bemused.

“Why do you think he was asking you where you were from?”

Finn sank back on his heels, putting the spanner down. “That’s why he left? He was mad about that?”

This conversation was not going the way Poe expected. “Why would he be?”

“Former stormtrooper,” Finn repeated.

“Doesn’t matter who you used to be, just who you are now. But listen, it’s okay. You and Rey are gonna be great.” It was true, but that didn’t make it any less painful to say. He reached out to squeeze Finn’s shoulder.

“About that...” Before Poe could react, Finn leaned over and kissed him. His aim was a little off, so the kiss landed on the corner of Poe’s mouth, but to Poe it was a direct hit.

“Wait, what—” He planned to say something sensible, but that wasn’t what happened. Instead he landed on his knees next to Finn and kissed him back. They made the connection this time, the spark growing into a flash fire burning everything in its path. Without him willing it to happen, his hands were on Finn’s face and they were clinging to each other. Finn kissed him breathless before he managed to get his wits gathered back around him. “Finn, what are you doing? What about Rey?”

“She told me to talk to you.”

Poe tried to remember how to breathe. “That wasn’t talking.”

Finn’s cheeks darkened and he glanced down. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“It’s okay. We can just pretend that it never happened.” They should tell her though. Poe had a sick feeling in his stomach just thinking about it.

“No, I mean—she’s right, I should have talked to you first.” Finn’s face was so earnest, like he hadn’t just given Poe a little glimpse of exactly what he could never have.

“I—I don’t think there’s anything to talk about.” Poe stood up and dusted off his knees. Forget the fence. He’d come out and work on it later. “Come on, let’s go back to the house.”

Before he could get to the speeder, Finn caught up to him and took his hand. “No, wait. There is. She wants to... to share.”

It took several heartbeats before Finn’s meaning fully registered. “What—I—no. I mean, I’m flattered, but no. Rey’s a pretty girl, but I just don’t think of her like that. Not to mention, Commander Skywalker would probably kill me.”

“Not like that. Me. She wants to share... me.” Finn let him go and stood back, waiting.

“You mean,” Poe gestured between the two of them, “you and me, and you and her...”

“Yeah.”

How badly did he want Finn? Poe still felt the sting of jealousy, thinking of Finn and Rey holding hands coming out of her room. Was he jealous because he was possessive of Finn, or was he jealous of what he thought he’d never be able to have? It seemed like a vital distinction. Finn watched him, his hands fidgeting together as he waited for Poe’s answer. “Can I think about it?”

Finn’s face fell a little. Poe sympathized; that kiss had been something else. Even now, part of his brain was screaming at him to just say ‘yes’ and worry about consequences later, but he was old enough to know better.

“Yeah,” Finn finally said. “Of course. Yeah. Not a problem.”

“I’m sorry, I just want to be sure.” Poe was probably going to kick himself later. Hard. Finn had become a part of his life the moment they’d met, that unforgettable moment when the enemy’s mask came off to reveal an unexpected friend.  Everything he felt for Finn was tied into that one crazy burst of hope, of relief, and Poe needed to decide how much of his future he was willing to risk on that one moment, and everything that had followed.

“The fence?” Finn said.

“It’s been busted for ages, it’ll wait another day. Listen, you can take the speeder back. I’m going to walk.” Without waiting to see if Finn followed, Poe walked off into the jungle.

#

Rey’s heart felt lighter than it had in days as she finished her breakfast and went back out to the tree. She stretched, already feeling the burning ache in her muscles from her earlier training. Living on Jakku had made her physically fit, but so far her Jedi training was beyond the limits of even scavenging in the desert. The grass was soft under her feet, the unfamiliar texture tickling her skin. She sat down to wait for Luke, then laid back against the green lushness.

She couldn’t have been asleep for long when Luke’s chuckle woke her up. “Comfortable?”

“Sorry.” Rey sat up, struggling out of sleep. “I’m just so tired.”

“You’re working hard.” Luke waited for her to stand. “It takes more out of you than you realize at first. The rest of your training today will involve helping me prepare to take the cuttings.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know much about trees. Not many of them back home.”

“I didn’t exactly farm living things myself. But I managed to find the information.” Luke gave her a wry smile. “The bigger concern is how to remove part of the tree without severing the connection to the Force. That, as far as I know, isn’t something anyone’s tried before.”

That didn't mean he didn't have an idea how to make it work. The two of them, working together, he said, might be able to strengthen the tree’s connection to the Force temporarily, allowing them to sever parts of the branches and sort of... tie off the Force’s energy—Rey didn’t know how else to think of it—into the cuttings. Hopefully, at least. That was the plan.

“Is this really the only tree like this left?” Rey asked, when they stopped for a quick lunch, sitting in the grass under the tree. She could feel it radiating against her skin, warm and a little unsettling.

“The only one I know of, that’s connected to the Light Side of the Force.” Luke paid more attention than seemed necessary to picking out just the right piece of fruit. “I know of another, aligned with the Dark Side, if it’s even still there.”

“At your first school...” Rey hesitated. He refused to talk about it so far, but she knew what she’d seen. “You said you planted the first tree there. And Kylo Ren destroyed it?”

Luke’s eyes darkened, and for a moment a stranger sat in front of her. The wise, kind-but-a-little-sad man she knew was gone, and she saw a hint of someone harder, older, grimmer. “No. He didn’t. I did.”

“What?”

“The First Order cannot get their hands on this kind of power. Snoke and his followers play at being Sith now. If they had access to something like this...” Luke lowered his head and his shoulders dropped, and some of the grimness faded away. “So I cut it down and burned it once I realized it was too late to stop what was happening.”

“But if it’s strong with the Light Side of the Force, wouldn’t that mean it wouldn’t help them?”

Luke chuckled, and Rey found herself relieved to hear it; it sounded more like the man she’d come to know and trust. “It’s not _sentient_. It can’t pick and choose who can use its power.”

“Oh no, I guess not. How do you know this kind of tree will grow on Ahch-To?”

“I have a feeling they will. And I can’t think of a more fitting place, than at the first Jedi Temple.”

Rey’s thoughts returned to the tree here, and the risk it could pose. She thought of Kes, friendly and doing everything he could to make two strangers feel at home. “Kylo Ren doesn’t know this tree is here, does he?”

“Ben Solo didn’t.” There was a weight in those words, in that name. “The man he’s trying to be now... I don’t know. I doubt it. He would have been here before now. Aside from the Damerons, no one knew what happened to the second tree. In fact, outside of the old Empire, no one knew a second tree existed. And I doubt those records have survived.”

He sounded sure, and Rey supposed he had reason to know as much as anyone, but she couldn’t erase the little niggling worry at the back of her mind.

“If you’re ready, let’s get back to work.”

Rey stood up and they began again.

Later, when Luke called a halt and Rey's awareness slowly filtered back into her body, she thought that they had worked for less than an hour, not long at all. The stiffness in her hips said otherwise, as did the sinking sun. Rey wasn't physically tired, apart from the stiffness, but her mind was exhausted.  Restless, rather than go into the house, she went for a walk.

She came to a clearing not far from the house that held a weathered, somewhat battered hangar. It was big, big enough to hold a decent-sized ship. Curiosity got the best of her, and she tried the door, which opened. Rey thought at first she’d stepped back in time when she stepped through the door.

Sitting on the permacrete was an old RZ-1 A-wing, a little scorched, but otherwise pristine. There was a Rebellion symbol painted on one of the stabilizers. An A-wing. Rey couldn’t keep the smile from her face. She hadn’t seen one since she was a little girl. The A-wings that passed through Niima Outpost had been her favorites, with their single pilots able to take off and go anywhere. She’d never been inside one, though. The ladder to the cockpit was in place. Maybe she could just...

“Oh!” As she got to the foot of the latter, a curly brown head appeared over the edge of the cockpit.

“Thought I heard footsteps,” Poe said.

“I’m sorry, I just saw the hanger and...”

He grinned. “You don’t have to tell me. I get it. Ever see an A-wing before?”

She nodded. “Never one in this good a shape, though.”

“I learned to fly in this old crate. My dad still keeps it cleaned up, but I don’t think it’s been up in the air for years.” He reached out and patted the ladder. “Come on up. Ever been in one?”

“There’s no room—”

“Sure there is, come on.” Poe climbed out of the cockpit and crouched on one of the wings.

Rey clambered up and Poe gave her a hand into the cockpit. It was smaller than she’d imagined. Flying in this, you’d be practically touching the stars.

“I’d ask if you wanted to take her up, but I’m not she flies anymore. The fuel’s probably turned to goo by now.”

“I didn’t mean to interrupt you, coming out here.” Rey ran her fingers over the ship’s console, making sense of all the controls.

“It’s fine. I always used to come out here to think, even if I didn’t take her up.” Poe shifted, settling into a sitting position on the wing.

His words, plus the Rebellion symbol, gave her a realization. “This was your mother’s ship.”

“Flew in the Battle of Endor, can you believe it?” Poe ran a hand over the hull.

Rey couldn’t find the words, so she sat in Shara Bey’s pilot seat in quiet awe. She wasn’t just in awe of the historic significance, but how... how _personal_ it was. Poe not only had known his mother, he had this to remember her by, and a father to remember her with.

The two of them were quiet for what felt like age, until Rey broke the silence. “What were you thinking about?”

Poe burst out laughing, the sound sudden and bright, echoing against the hangar walls and ceiling. “I wonder. What could I possibly have to consider that would require getting away from you two lunatics for a while?”

Oh. “Finn talked to you.” Rey climbed out of the cockpit to sit facing him, her legs dangling down into the pilot seat.

“As a matter of fact, he did.” He scooted around so he was facing her too, their knees nearly bumping across the narrow cockpit. “What are you thinking here, Rey?”

“I care about him. You care about him. He cares about us. Doesn’t it make sense?”

“On the surface, sure.” Poe rubbed at his forehead and then ran a hand over his hair, ruffling it. “But—people aren’t that simple. We can’t just decide to—to share him like a loaf of bread.”

“Why not? Would it be better to make him pick? Because that way two of the three of us would be miserable, Poe. Maybe all three of us.” It was so obvious to her. “I can’t—I can’t be to him what you would be.”

Sometimes during training, Luke would stop and look at her with such an intense look she wondered if he could see into her mind without her feeling it. She’d thought it was just a Jedi thing, but she’d been wrong. Poe studied her intently, and she did her best to meet his eyes. “What if you decide you want more someday?” he asked. “Marriage, a family?”

Rey shook her head. “Jedi don’t do that.” How could she explain? She had a family, and until she found them again, she couldn’t just throw a switch inside of herself and replace them.

“What if I wanted him all to myself?”

“Do you?”

“No. I don’t know.” Poe scrubbed at his face again. “People don’t _do_ this sort of thing.”

“Of course they do!” Rey reached out and pulled his hand away from his face. “People do whatever they think will make them happy. Would this not make you happy?” Holding Poe’s hand was nothing like holding Finn’s. There was nothing scary in the warmth of his skin against hers, but nothing exciting either. Funny that it took leaving a desert planet for her to realize how many different types of warmth there were in the galaxy.

“It would make me happy for now, but for how long?” Poe gently eased his hand out of hers.

“We’re fighting a war against people who think destroying entire systems is a valid strategy.” She gestured around them. “This could all be gone tomorrow. _We_ could all be gone tomorrow, just like the Hosnian system. You don’t know how long _anything_ is going to last. But in the meantime, we could be happy.”

“You really believe that.” He shook his head, but he was fighting a smile.

“What, that we’d be happy with Finn or that we could all die any day?”

“Both.” He stopped fighting the smile.

“Absolutely.”

“Listen. You and I, we have to keep talking.” Poe’s smile faded and his eyes took on an earnest expression. “And Finn. Otherwise it really won’t work.”

“Deal.” They shook on it.

#

Finn felt guilty about leaving the fence repair unfinished, so went back out after lunch. Poe was nowhere to be found, but the work wasn’t actually that difficult, and he made enough progress to assuage his conscience. He headed back toward the house when the sun started to move behind Yavin’s gas giant neighbor.

He’d hoped that keeping busy would tire him out enough to sleep, and keep him from replaying Poe’s kiss over and over again in his mind. Well, he might sleep, but nothing had quieted his mind all afternoon. What should he say to Poe when he saw him again? Should he mention what happened? Should he avoid him altogether?

Rey came to his rescue. When he came into the house she grabbed him into a hug and kissed him on the cheek. Both caught him off-guard, but he wrapped his arms around her in return, closing his eyes. She felt warm and right in his arms, and the tension drained away from him for a few moments.

“What’s this for?” He leaned down enough to rest his chin on her shoulder. “Not that I’m complaining.”

“It was a good day,” she said. She looped her arm through his and steered him toward the dining room.

Having her at his side made him feel brave enough to face Poe again. A good thing, since Poe was putting food on the table when they walked in. “Hey,” Finn said, fighting back the awkwardness that tried to come back.

“Hey.” Poe looked more at ease than Finn felt.

Rey squeezed Finn’s arm. “I need to go wash up.” She slipped away before Finn could protest.

The two men stood there, Finn sure he looked awkward as hell. He scrounged for something neutral to say. “Dinner smells good.”

“That’s because I didn’t help cook it.” Poe came around the table to Finn. “I talked to Rey this afternoon.”

“Yeah?” Finn’s heart gave a little kick. He tried to keep his face still.

“She’s a smart girl.”

“She is.”

Poe tilted his head to look up at him, and Finn realized he was nervous as Finn was. “Can we... maybe go for a walk after dinner?”

“Yeah, okay.” Finn’s heart didn’t skip, it galloped. “Whenever you want.”

“Good.” Poe darted in and kissed him on the opposite cheek that Rey had kissed earlier. It felt like a circuit closing, something snapping into completion and leaving him warm and glowing. Before he could react, Poe winked at him and then headed back to the kitchen, leaving Finn in a state of uncertainty.

Finn was sure he ate dinner, but the entire meal was a blur of anticipation. He half-heard the conversations that went on around him. Skywalker and Rey expected to be able to take cuttings the next day. Rey asked questions about Poe’s mom and Finn tried to pay attention, but couldn’t. Instead he was acutely aware of Poe: his body language, his facial expressions. He was acutely aware of his own body, feeling as if every single thought and emotion that passed through his head wrote itself large enough for everyone to see.

Finally the meal ended and Rey jumped up and offered to help Kes clean up the kitchen. Poe and Finn slipped out together into the late twilight.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” Poe said, once they were out of earshot of the house. “I shouldn’t have bolted.”

“I wouldn’t say you bolted.” Finn glanced over and grinned. “You moved too slow for that.”

“Not as fast on my feet as I am in the air.”

“Where are we going?” Finn kept trying to look at Poe and walk at the same time, and sooner or later he was going to trip over his own feet.

“Nowhere really.” Poe seemed content to just walk without talking.

Finn tried, he really did. _Just spend time with him. This is really nice, see? You don’t have to talk_.

It lasted about a minute and a half.

“So what did you and Rey talk about?”

“Flying. My mom’s ship. How to be happy.” Poe was playing with him; there was a little smile tugging at the corner of his lips and he wouldn’t look at Finn.

“Are we...”

Poe stopped. Ambient light filtered through the trees from somewhere nearby, some outbuilding lit up for the night. It caught in Poe’s eyes and made them gleam as he turned to face Finn. “Where’d you learn to kiss like that? Do they teach kissing in Stormtrooper School?”

“No. Stormtroopers... just fight. Nothing else.” It wasn’t just culture Finn had struggled to absorb since leaving the _Finalizer_. It was the realization of everything he'd been denied. “Maybe it was my partner?”

“So wait, are you telling me that was your first kiss? You’ve never—you and Rey haven’t—”

“Until I met you and Rey I never wanted to,” Finn said simply.

“Never?” If Finn didn’t know how brave Poe was, he would’ve thought that was fear in Poe’s eyes.

“Doctor Kalonia said she thought maybe they were giving us something—”

“Finn.” Poe placed his fingers over Finn’s mouth to quiet him. “What do you want from this? All of this.”

It was hard to think with Poe’s fingers against his lips. Harder still to keep his lips from forming the shape of a kiss against them. “I just know that I would do anything for Rey, anything she needed or wanted. If it wasn’t for you, I’d still be... out there with them, or maybe worse. And when you kissed me I’d never felt anything like that before and I—I want to do it again.”

Poe’s eyes were on his while he was talking, and when Finn stopped for a breath, he leaned in slowly. Finn’s heart roared in his ears as he moved to meet him halfway. Their lips met first, and their bodies followed, hands linking as if by instinct. The kiss was slower, more cautious than the one by the fence. Deliberate. Finn was hyper-aware of the tiniest sensations: the faint whisper of Poe’s stubble against his chin, the warm feel of his breath, and the way his fingertips started to tingle as the kiss went on, their lips only barely parted.

Finally they broke apart and Finn remembered to breathe. Poe’s eyes fluttered open, his gaze heavy-lidded and almost sleepy-looking as if he were dreaming. The expression on his face twisted Finn’s belly into a knot of yearning. Poe let go of his hand and curled his fingers into Finn’s shirt instead, pulling him back to kiss him again.

They weren’t as tentative this time. Something about the way Poe was holding him in place made Finn’s knees start to shake. Their lips parted and Finn couldn’t stifle a gasp when Poe’s tongue touched his. It was like grabbing a live wire, current arcing through his body and making him jump. He held on to Poe’s waist for dear life, only able to follow his lead.

When they parted a second time, both of them were out of breath. “There’s—the hangar is just past those trees,” Poe said, his fingers uncurling and resting flat against Finn’s chest. “It’s quiet. No one goes in there but me anymore.”

“Yeah, all right.” Finn felt dizzy. He’d had a crash course on what might come next, but all that really mattered was that it was Poe, and he trusted Poe. Poe took him by the hand and they walked the short distance to the hanger—the source of the light Finn had noticed earlier.

The hanger was dark inside but for the emergency lights. A large shadowy shape dominated the room—a ship, Finn assumed—but the rest seemed to be open floor space.  Finn’s nervousness spiked. Poe must have sensed it because he squeezed Finn’s hand. “Hey. I just want to be with you. I’m already flying here. Anything else is just extra.”

Finn was the one who kissed him this time. Poe’s hands came to rest on his hips and he guided them as if they were dancing (something else Finn had never done) until the back of Finn’s knees hit something solid.

“Sit down,” Poe murmured against his mouth.

Finn sat without looking, coming to rest on what turned out to be a workbench. Poe sat next to him and nuzzled his way back to Finn’s mouth. His hands slipped inside the jacket Finn was wearing (Finn still thought of it as Poe’s jacket) and moved warm against Finn’s sides, then back, pulling him closer.

That was when Finn did something he’d been wanting to do almost since the moment he met Poe. He slid his fingers up into Poe’s temptingly curly hair. In Yavin’s humidity, it was even curlier here than the tousled waves Finn was used to. It was as soft as he’d imagined, and the sound Poe made as he melted further against Finn was... well, it made Finn’s hair stand on end. More than just his hair, in fact. Since leaving the First Order, Finn had gotten more accustomed to having the occasional erection, but it had never felt like this. The feeling threatened to swamp his entire brain and wipe it clean.

It reminded him that there was more to this than kissing, but Finn couldn’t imagine stopping long enough to move on. At least, until Poe stopped kissing his mouth and moved to his neck instead. Finn tightened his fingers in Poe’s hair reflexively and Poe groaned loudly enough to echo in against the hangar walls.

Finn let go. “I’m sorry, did I—”

“That wasn’t a bad noise.” Poe’s lips moved against Finn’s neck and Finn couldn’t stop shivering from it. “I’ll tell you if I don’t like something. You will too, right?”

“Y-Yeah.” Finn cradled Poe’s head again with trembling hands. He couldn’t imagine not liking anything that was happening.

Poe laughed, the sound tickling against Finn’s throat. “If I had any sense, I would have taken you back to the house.”

“Too many people there.” Some boldness seized him and he said, “I don’t want to have to be quiet.”

“I don’t want you to be,” Poe gasped before coming back to Finn’s mouth, fiercer this time, teeth and tongues and lips. And Finn did make a noise, a groan that got louder when Poe rested a hand just above his knee. He tried to stay focused on the kiss itself, but his awareness kept zooming in to that hand, sliding up his thigh.

“You okay?” Poe paused long enough to look Finn in the eye.

“Yeah. Hell yeah.”

“You sure?” Something wicked glinted in Poe’s eyes as his hand slid the rest of the way up Finn’s thigh. “Yeah, that seems okay.”

Finn couldn’t answer, his mouth had gone dry. He tried to keep his eyes open but Poe was touching him through his pants and he wasn’t sure he could keep _breathing_ much less keep looking at him.

They stopped talking, kisses interspersed with Poe slowly opening Finn’s pants. Finn’s entire body tingled and burned with anticipation. Poe was moving so slow, folding back a layer of fabric, then pausing. Too slow, the wait was going to drive him mad. A single word exploded from him. “Please.”

“Please what?” That voice wasn’t like Poe’s everyday voice. It was darker, lower, teasing to match the spark in his eyes as he stopped again to look at Finn.

“I don’t know—something. Anything.”

Whatever Finn might have expected next, it wasn’t for Poe to go to his knees in front of him.

“What are you doing?”

“Something.” He leaned in and pressed his face against Finn’s belly, nuzzling his shirt aside until his lips found bare skin. It tickled, but not in a way that made Finn want to laugh. Finally, Poe pulled away the last layer of Finn’s clothing and he sprang free. Poe wrapped his hand around Finn and Finn saw stars. His breathing got louder, more ragged, only to trail off in a whimper when Poe leaned down and started to kiss him. Finn barely had time to get used to that before he was _inside_ Poe’s mouth and there was no way anything could feel so good.

His vision cleared a little only to give him the sight of Poe, his lips parted and a little swollen, his eyes burning into Finn’s as he moved up and down. Finn wanted to say something, to tell him how it felt, but all he could do was make helpless vowel sounds that got louder with each stroke. He held on to Poe’s shoulders, curling his fingers into the fabric of his shirt hard enough to make the stitches pop.

The steady growing buzz of pleasure rocketed forward, catching Finn by surprise. He cried out, his body going rigid, quivering, shaking under Poe’s mouth until it faded away and left him limp.

He opened his eyes to see Poe resting his head against his knee, smiling up at him.

Finn took a shaky breath. “That was... definitely something.”

Poe laughed and shoved his knee. “Okay, I deserved that.” He rose up and caught Finn’s face between his hands, looking at him intently. “All right?”

Finn kissed him hard. “Yes. More than. Come here. What do I do?” Could he make Poe feel that good? He wanted to try, desperately.

“Nothing, tonight.” Poe got to his feet and sat beside Finn once more, snuggling close. “Tonight was just for you. We’ve got time for more later.”

 _More_. Finn shivered. He wasn’t sure he could survive anything more.

After he got re-dressed, they sat in the hanger and talked, trading kisses and snuggles. Not about anything serious, just whatever came to mind.

By the time they walked, hand in hand, back to the house, it was dark. Poe kissed him one last time and they went to their separate rooms.

The bedside light was on in Finn’s room, revealing Rey, curled up asleep on his bed. It was easy to forget how relatively tiny she was when her presence loomed so large. He’d never seen her look so vulnerable, the lines of her face soft and slack. There was room in the living area for him to sleep. He unfolded the blankets from the foot of the bed and drew them up over Rey.

She stirred, her eyes fluttering open. “Hey. I meant to wait up for you.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.” He brushed a strand of hair away from her face and she smiled.

“How’d it go?”

“It was... it was good.” Finn’s face got hot and it must have shown, because she laughed.

"I meant did you talk, you rat."

"Oh. Well, yes, we did that too."

Rey rolled her eyes, but smiled at him. "Should I go?"

“You can stay, if you want.”

“Good.” Rey snuggled back under the blankets. A few minutes later, he was there with her. She curled against his shoulder and he tightened his arms around her. “Do you think you’ll be happy?” she asked. “With the two of us?”

“I’m happy right now,” he said. _This must be what home feels like_.


	4. Chapter 4

_The tree is backlit by fire as Rey crouches in front of it. Laser blasts sound overhead and the scream of ships dogfighting. She digs into the dirt and her hands come up stained with red. Men are screaming and she recognizes their voices, but she can’t stop digging. What she needs is down deep, deep in the root system of the tree so she digs through the dirt and the mud and the blood and tries not to think about whose blood it is._

_She’s almost there, she can feel it, when the crackling, broken sound of a dangerously damaged lightsaber comes from behind her. She doesn’t need to turn to see its dangerously damaged owner._

_Unarmed, she stands, her hands dripping red. Before she can turn around, there is a split second of searing, shocking agony and she looks down to see the flickering, ragged red blade coming from her chest._

She woke with a gasp, her face cold with sweat. A deep breath didn’t erase the panic or calm her racing heart.

“Rey?” Finn mumbled, half-asleep behind her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, a nightmare.” She pressed back against him, trying to sink into the warmth he radiated like a furnace, but her mind and body wouldn’t let go.

A soft rap sounded at the door, followed by Luke’s voice. “Rey?”

Finn sat bolt upright. “How did he know you were here?” he whispered.

Rey slipped out of bed and opened the door while Finn grabbed at the bedcovers and clutched them to his chest, despite the fact that they were both fully clothed. Her hands were still shaking when she closed the door behind Luke.

“Was it a nightmare?” Luke asked. There was no place in the room to sit other than the bed, so he gestured for her to sit down. Finn sat up, looking like he’d rather crawl under the bed instead. 

“How did you know?” Rey leaned back against Finn, already chilled without his warmth. 

“I sensed the disturbance in the Force.” Luke sat next to her, barely giving Finn a glance, too focused on her. “Tell me.”

“It was—the First Order was here.” She felt Finn tense behind her, and she reached for his hand. “They knew about the tree. I was looking for... something.” Rey didn’t mention the rest. She could still feel the burning in her chest, and pressed her free hand against it absently. “What does it mean?”

“A warning, perhaps,” Luke said. “Possibly a premonition.”

“A premonition?” Finn spoke up. “The First Order is coming here?”

Luke’s gaze moved to him briefly. “Possibly. But that’s always been a small danger.”

“But you said Kylo Ren didn’t know about the tree,” Rey said.

“I said Ben Solo didn’t. It’s unlikely his counterpart does—but not impossible.” Luke fell silent for a moment, and Rey took deep breaths, leaning on Finn and drawing assurance from his presence. 

“What do we do?” Rey said finally.

“We go on as planned. And it might have been just a dream after all.” Luke placed a hand on her shoulder and that was new. Although she sensed his affection for her, he wasn’t given to gestures of it. “Get some rest, both of you. Tomorrow we’ll take the cuttings, the tree should be ready by then.” He squeezed her shoulder and stood. “Take care of her, Finn.”

“I—yes sir. I will.”

Luke gave them a faint smile and left.

“Are you all right?” Rey turned around and rested her head against Finn’s shoulder.

“Me? Yeah, I’m fine, are _you_ okay?”

Rey turned out the lights again and they resettled into bed. “Better now.”

“Good.” He kissed her on the forehead and it tingled through her, soothing her nerves.

They were quiet, and Rey was just on the brink of sleep when she said, “Finn?”

“Yeah?”

“Luke likes you. You don’t have to be afraid of him.” 

“I’m not—”

She snorted. 

“Yeah okay, I am. A little.” She heard the lie shading his voice. It wasn’t  just a little. “I mean, I used to work for the guys he’s got a history with.”

“ _Used_ to.” Being warm and sleepy in the dark made it easier to say things. “He wants us to be happy, I think.”

“Us as in... the two of us individually or us as in... _us_?”

“Both. All of us.” She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. It was getting more natural now. She draped one leg over his knees and sprawled against him. Impetuously, she lifted her head and gave him a quick kiss on the mouth, barely more than a glancing touch. “So don’t worry about him.”

“I—okay.” 

The kiss unsettled her. Had it been too much? In between “sex” and “not-sex” was a vast no-man’s land and Rey wasn’t quite sure she knew how to negotiate the territory. But Finn didn’t seem bothered, and before long, she had drifted back to sleep.

She woke with the sun the way she always did, but for the first time it was hard to will herself out of bed. Finn snored quietly, sleeping almost ramrod-straight on his back, arms to his sides like he was standing at attention. Or, she mused, like he wasn’t used to having room to move when he was sleeping. Without meaning to, she got a glimpse of his dreams, a flash of dark turbulence punctuated by bursts of red from blasters. Rey leaned down and kissed his forehead, and the turbulence calmed.

Carefully, she climbed out of the warm bed, a little more ready to start the day.

She wasn’t the first one up—Kes and Poe were working side by side in the kitchen making breakfast. 

“Morning. Sleep good?” Poe arched an eyebrow at her significantly and she laughed.

“I did, thank you. Did you have a good evening last night?” She arched her eyebrow back in imitation.

It was his turn to laugh, and his cheeks darkened as he cut his eyes toward his father and gave a small head-shake. “Yes, thanks.” He handed her a plate and gestured to the food that was already prepared. “You’ll want to hurry, I think Luke is already outside.”

She did just that. It was getting easier to not gorge herself at meals; it was finally sinking in to her brain that she wasn’t stuck living with whatever portions Unkar Plott deigned to give her and that food would be there when she needed it, as much as she needed. So she finished breakfast and headed out to meet Luke.

“Were you able to get back to sleep?” he asked.

“Yeah. Sorry I woke you.” 

He smiled faintly. “I don’t sleep a lot these days.”

Wordlessly, they started going through the first set of forms side by side and Rey felt both her body and mind start to relax and open. Rey’s awareness was getting stronger each day, stretching out to touch on a hundred living things in Yavin’s trees. The Coruscant tree was nearly blinding in its brilliance, thanks to the work she and Luke had been doing.

When they came to a stop, the sun was halfway up the sky, and Rey’s mind was clear and serene. 

Luke gestured for her to come closer to the tree. “I think we’re ready to take the first cutting. Get your lightsaber.”

“Me? You want me to cut it?” Rey obeyed though, drawing the weapon. Their theory, as yet untested, was because the lightsaber was a weapon of the Force, it would give them more control to take part of the tree while leaving its essence intact. The plan was to take three cuttings. 

“Yes. I need to focus on keeping its energy in place.” He paused and nodded at her. “You can do this. Just remember what we did yesterday.”

Rey took a deep, deep breath and activated the saber. It still didn’t feel entirely comfortable in her hands. She struggled to find the balance between working with it and letting it work with her. And finding that balance was more important than ever right now. If she failed, it might not just give them a useless cutting; there was a slim chance it could destroy the tree’s connection to the Force altogether.

She really wished Luke were the one doing this.

With the saber lifted, Rey studied the branch Luke pointed out, saw the spot where she needed to make the cut.  The Force flowed around the tree, except for one small area that was thinner and weaker than the rest. Rey half-closed her eyes and let the Force guide her weapon to the right spot. Now slowly, slowly, she eased it through the outer aura of the Force, reaching the physical branch of the tree itself. It was hard not to slice through too quick, but also not move so slow that the cutting was burned out.

At the end, with only the remaining Force aura to separate, she faltered. The cut was too fast and for a second she saw the tree flicker as if it were a bad hologram. Luke caught it, caught the loose ends of energy and sealed them off.

They were left with a small, perfectly prepared cutting of the tree, ready for planting. 

“Well done,” Luke said. “Two more to go.”

Rey rolled her shoulders to get rid of the tension, then got ready to move on. 

The second and third cuttings were a little easier. Now they just needed to get the into stasis and get them on the _Falcon_. But the hard part was done.

#

The cuttings were complete and safely stowed onboard the _Falcon_ , and there was no reason for them to stay on Yavin 4 much longer. Poe went into overdrive, suddenly wanting to finish the little odd jobs around the ranch before they left. Kes was keeping on a good face, but Poe was observant. He remembered the hired hands who had worked the ranch before, and since they’d arrived, he hadn’t seen them. In fact, he’d seen no one else working. The comment he made to Finn about the ranch running itself came back to haunt him as he spotted a dozen little signs of entropy that his father never would have allowed before.

Kes was alone, and he was trying to keep it hidden. Poe didn’t know when it had happened, or why—maybe the price of livestock had fallen, or the price of labor had gone up. Poe had been so distracted by Finn he hadn’t been paying attention to what was going on right in front of his eyes.

On a whim, he went out to check out the herd of runyips and look, really look. There were maybe a quarter of what he expected. Well cared-for, but not nearly enough to support a working ranch. 

Kes found him hurrying through patching one of the worst expanses of fence. “Hey, kid. It’s past lunch time, the others have all eaten. Take a break.” 

There was still too much to do, but Poe let Kes steer him back toward the house. He’d been thinking about it all morning, and he’d reached the only logical solution he could find. “I’ve been thinking,” he said casually. “Maybe it’s about time for me to think about hanging up my flight suit. Come home.”

Kes laughed at him. “Right. You’d be bored solid in a week.”

“No, I mean it. My reflexes aren’t what they were even a couple of years ago. It’s not going to be long before I’m more of a liability up there than a help.”

Kes stopped and put a hand on his shoulder. “What’s this really about?”

“Just what I said.”

“Uh-huh. And what about Finn?”

“Dad, I told you—”

“I know what you told me, Poe, but I also know what I see with my own two eyes.” Kes shook his head. “You’re worried about the ranch.”

“Well yes, a little—”

“Don’t be.” He raised his hand to forestall Poe’s protest. “Yes, there’s been a rough couple of years, but I’m doing all right. Next season I’m going to sell off part of the northwest reach, and that will solve a lot of my problems.”

“But, if you had an extra pair of hands to do the work...” Poe said.

“Not your hands,” Kes said sternly. “The Resistance needs you. You think I don’t keep up with the underground holovids? Poe Dameron, you’re a hero to those people. And I get to tell anybody who’ll listen, _that’s my son_.” His face softened into a smile and he cupped Poe’s jaw. “He takes after his mother.”

“Mom would kill me if she saw that I was neglecting you.” Poe shook his head.

“Maybe, but she’d haunt me for the rest of my days if I let you just walk away from this fight.”

The more he thought about it, though, the more it seemed like the right thing to do. “But you and Mom did. You left the Rebellion for me, how can I not do the same for you?”

Kes laughed and Poe’s irritation rose. “Poe, you were two years old! We came home to raise you. I am not a child. Besides, we waited until the war was won.” He gave Poe’s shoulder a shake. “Your war isn’t won yet. The man I raised wouldn’t just walk away from that.”

“But—” Poe stopped and sighed. “I worry about you.”

“That’s what family does.” Kes looped an arm around his neck and started walking again. “Come on, let’s get you fed before Rey eats everything.”

They weren’t planning on leaving until the next morning, so with the afternoon free, Poe roped Finn and Rey into helping him with some of the last chores. Rey, it turned out, was as handy with building as she was with dismantling, so she took on the job of patching the main barn’s roof while Poe and Finn cleaned it out. 

When they stopped to take a break, Rey clambered down the steep roof with ease, hardly bothering with the ladder. The three of them sprawled in the shade, passing a canteen of water back and forth. Finn’s back was propped against the barn wall and Rey used his thigh as a pillow, while Poe sat shoulder-to-shoulder with him, their hands linked.

“Rey, you’ve been to this place, what is it like?” Finn asked.

Rey’s eyes were closed and she smiled. “More water than I’ve ever seen in my life. Water as far as you can see.”

Finn laughed. “Anything else?”

“Stairs. Lots of stairs. Get ready to climb for ages.”

“I don’t think we’re going to get to the full travelogue description from her,” Poe said. “She’s half-asleep.”

“Am not.” Rey didn’t open her eyes. She reached up blindly with one hand and patted Finn’s cheek. “He’s a good pillow, though. I can go sleep in my bed tonight if you want to find out, Poe.”

Poe choked on the water he was trying to swallow. “Is this weird? This is weird, right?” He looked between the two of them then laughed at their puzzled expressions. “Why am I asking you two.”

“What’s so weird about it?” Finn asked. “I mean, I don’t want you to feel left out, if I’m always sleeping with Rey, so if you wanted to...”

“And you both really aren’t bothered?” Poe asked. They shook their heads.

Rey sat up. “It sounds like you are, though.”

“I—” Poe thumped his head back against the barn. “Not like I was afraid I might be. I was worried that I’d be jealous. I’m not jealous. I just—worry what people will think.”

Finn laughed. “You? Really?”

“Well, some people?” Talking, Poe decided, was terrible. He should stop doing it. It was easier to figure out a lightspeed calculation in his head than to try and put his feelings into words. “Not everybody, but... my dad. I’d worry about people thinking that I’m taking advantage of the two of you. Butting my way into your relationship.”

“But you’re not,” Rey said. “You’re not in our relationship at all. You’re in your relationship.”

Rey had a way of making things sound so simple and obvious. Even when they weren’t. It must be a Jedi thing.

Finn picked up Poe’s hand and squeezed it. “Rey and I are... doing pretty okay, I think.” He looked to her for confirmation and she nodded. “Is this really what’s bothering you?”

And Finn had a way of seeing straight to the heart of things even when Poe would rather he didn’t. “My father needs help here. He’s trying to tell me he’s fine but,” he gestured at the barn. 

“Maybe we can convince Luke to stay another day, give us more time to do some work?” Finn suggested.

“A couple of days of work isn’t going to solve the problem. He needs another set of hands here to do the work.” And maybe any pension Poe might bring with him, if he came home. He didn’t say that aloud; his pride had limits. “I offered to come home for good.” He couldn’t look at Finn while he said it.

“Leave the Resistance?” Rey said. “But you can’t! We need you too.”

“I know I can’t.” Now he did look at Finn, and tried to give him a reassuring smile. “Didn’t want to anyway, but I had to offer.”

“I get it. You’d do anything for him.” Finn didn’t return the smile, but his eyes were calm, serious. “I understand that.”

Poe leaned over and gave him a quick kiss before standing up. “Come on, let’s get the rest of the barn cleaned out.”

#

The three of them walked arm in arm back toward the house, Finn in the middle. Finn couldn’t remember a time he’d been this tired that hadn’t also involved long periods of sheer terror. It was a good feeling. 

The plan was to part ways and clean up for dinner, but Rey followed him into his room. She closed the door and a sudden twinge of nervousness hit him. 

“Finn?” If he didn’t know better, he’d swear she sounded nervous too. “Can I... try something?”

He had a second to remember his “something” with Poe. It must have shown on his face because she laughed. “No, nothing like that. Can I kiss you?”

Now, she had already kissed him, several times, affectionate touches that were warm and gentle, but she’d never specifically asked before.  “Yeah.”

Rey stood in front of him and reached up to touch his face. Her hands weren’t soft. Her hands were calloused, rough, marked with healed cuts and scars, but they were warm, and they were hers. He leaned his cheek against her hand. Her eyes were green today—they seemed to change colors depending on her mood and he didn’t yet know what green meant. 

Then she leaned toward him and he met her halfway. Her lips were softer than her hands. Normally when she kissed him, it was a quick peck on the cheek or forehead, and once on his mouth, but this was... different from the start. Lingering, gentler. Rey wrapped her arms around his neck—which was always one of his favorite things in the universe—and he pulled her closer. 

He tried to stay still, and to let her control the entire experience, but once their lips met, she seemed unsure. Finn moved his lips over hers and was rewarded by a little intake of breath. Rey mimicked his movement and suddenly his skin seemed too tight for his body. Self-conscious of his body’s reactions, he angled his hips away from hers before he had a chance to embarrass himself.

When they parted, Rey’s eyes burned bright and her cheeks burned brighter. “I... I should go. Dinner. I have to. Yeah.” She was gone before he could say anything.

Finn took a deep breath. What had just happened? What did it mean? Suddenly the prospect of sharing his bed with her again had taken on a very different tone. Had she decided she wanted more?

He threw himself through the refresher before he could think himself into a tailspin.

In the kitchen, Poe and Kes were arguing good-naturedly about how to finish cooking dinner, and Finn slipped out of the house to where the Coruscant tree grew. 

Too late, he realized his mistake. Skywalker was there, looking up into the branches. Before Finn could retreat back to the house, Skywalker looked over at him. “Finn. Just the person I wanted to see.”

_Damn_. “Yes, sir,” Finn said, resisting the urge to salute.

“You realize you can call me Luke, right?”

“All right, si—Luke.” Finn tucked his hands into his pockets and tried to walk casually toward the tree. “What did you want to see me about?” He was pretty sure he knew.

He was wrong.

“Have I done something to upset you, Finn?”

“What? No.”

Luke glanced over at him, an eyebrow raised. “Are you sure? You seem... troubled by my presence at times.”

“I—” Finn closed his mouth. _I had nightmares about you as a child_ didn’t seem like an appropriate response. “It’s just—I never know for sure how people will react to me, to what I’ve done.”

“What you’ve done. What is it that you’ve done?” Luke turned to face him directly, his face solemn now, and Finn practically wanted to quake in his boots. 

“I mean. I was a stormtrooper. I was with the First Order. I helped them do terrible things.”

Luke folded his arms. “How many people did you kill for them?”

“Oh. Well. None, but—”

“And do you know how many people have overcome stormtrooper conditioning, fled the First Order, and joined the Resistance?”

“...no?”

“One.” Luke nodded. “Just you.”

Finn fought the urge to squirm. “I was scared, so I ran—”

“I know what happened.” Luke unfolded his arms and rested a hand on Finn’s shoulder. “And I also have an idea of what stories they tell the innocent children they’re indoctrinating.”

“You’re less scary in person,” Finn mumbled.

That earned a laugh. “You’re not the first person to say that to me.” He squeezed Finn’s shoulder and let go. “Rey cares about you a great deal. I can see why.”

Finn dropped his gaze to the ground. “I care about her too.”

“I gathered that.” Was Luke Skywalker _teasing_ him? “But Finn, you should know, her training is going to get more difficult from here on out. She’ll have to constantly look to find balance within herself. Be patient with her, if you can.”

“I will. I’ll try.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Why didn’t we just land the _Falcon_ up there?” Finn panted. They were halfway up the Jedi steps, the four of them carrying all the supplies they’d need for a few days at the temple.

“Too windy up there, the updrafts are murder.” Rey carried the tree cuttings in their stasis pods in addition to the supplies on her back. “Besides, look at this view.” She gestured out over the vast expanse of water, distant islands dotting the horizon. 

“This climb is murder,” Finn muttered. 

The island felt different this time, but Rey knew it was because she was the one who had changed.

After months of training with Luke, she could feel the power contained in this place, see it almost, radiating out from the ancient stone. It sank through her skin into her bones. 

Luke led the way up ahead, and Poe brought up the rear. Watching him say goodbye to Kes had been difficult. As much as she’d tried to block it, she couldn’t miss the waves of worry coming from him as the two men had hugged. She wished she had some way to reassure him, but what did she know of parents?

They were quiet most of the climb up, except when Poe decided to start serenading them all with Yavin drinking songs that got more and more ridiculous until he couldn’t sing for laughing breathlessly. 

By the time they reached the top, it was close to dusk. Although the temple was in ruins, there were still corners strong enough to serve as temporary shelter for the night. Poe offered to make dinner, and Luke wandered off who knew where. Rey and Finn went exploring before it got dark, their hands linked.

They found a spot to sit and watch the setting sun, huddled together against the sea wind. Ever since she’d kissed him, Rey found it more and more difficult to relax and be comfortable in Finn’s arms. That first night she’d tried to sleep next to him again, but instead lay awake, afraid to snuggle, overwhelmed by her own feelings.

All she could think was that she wanted to kiss him again. “Finn?”

“Hm?” He looked down at her, and something in her chest squeezed almost painfully. She tilted her head up to him and that must have been enough, because he leaned down and met her halfway.

He kissed her slowly, but each tiny movement sent a spark spiraling down her body, the full softness of his mouth caressing hers. It made her want to cry, to laugh, it tore through her uncertainties and her fears of losing control. It was like dancing on the edge of a cliff and daring gravity to do its worst. 

And then he parted his lips and the tip of his tongue touched her mouth. It was almost instinct that made her open her own mouth in return, gasping as their tongues touched. The sparks turned into tiny embers burning through her skin, tingling and twinging through every part of her. This was desire, and she was equal parts intrigued and terrified. She recognized a small irrational corner of her brain that would gladly do anything to chase this feeling, to satisfy it. Here was the loss of control she feared; this feeling seemed big enough to tear apart the universe.

His arms tightened around her like he was trying to hold her together even while his mouth was breaking her down into atoms. Finally they parted, and he rested his forehead against hers. Finn drew a breath. “That was—”

“Yeah,” she agreed. Her face was flushed, he must be able to feel her skin burning against his.

“I thought... you weren’t interested in this. Are you sure you’re okay?”

Rey took a moment to think about her answer, seriously think about it. “I feel safe with you. Even when I’m scared. So, yes.”

“I don’t want you to be afraid of me.” Finn kissed her again, carefully and gently.

“Not of you, of... this. You make me feel so much.”

He smiled down at her and she couldn’t help but smile in return. “You make me feel a lot too.”

Rey glanced away, still smiling. “So... we’ll go slow and see what happens?”

Finn kissed her cheek. “You’re the boss.”

Faintly, the wind carried the sound of Poe calling their names. “Dinner must be ready,” Rey said.

Finn stood up and offered her his hands, pulling her up as if she weighed nothing. 

That night, she was able to sleep peacefully curled up against him. The nightmare about the tree came again, even more vivid, only this time she could see the bleeding bodies at the base of the tree. Before she could get close enough to see who they were, she jerked awake.

Finn was sleeping stiff and straight on his back again, but Rey curled against him, and he relaxed enough to wrap one arm around her. That was enough.

She woke with the daylight to see Luke already up and outside the temple, moving through a series of lightsaber forms so fast she could barely follow him with her eyes. He stopped when he saw her watching, and motioned her over, brandishing his lightsaber.

He didn’t spar with her often; in the beginning they had spent most of their time focused on the more internal aspects of training. After he'd taught her the forms, her opponent was the training remote more often than not. 

Rey grabbed her weapon and stretched briefly, working out the kinks from sleeping on the ground. “No fair, you’re warmed up.”

Luke grinned at her. “Nothing about this is going to be a fair fight.” 

“Oh ho, that’s how we’re playing this?” Rey ignited her lightsaber and got into position. She didn’t see the playful side of her teacher nearly often enough. She could feel the Force coursing through her stronger than ever here and no doubt he did too.

Luke went easy on her at first, attacking with easily countered slashes—giving her a chance to warm up. She pressed the attack and he came back at her harder, their sabers crackling and flashing in the early morning light. Rey struggled to remember the forms, to keep her weapon as an extension of her awareness, to let it work through her. Dimly she grew aware that Finn and Poe were awake and standing to the side, watching.

That distraction cost her. She lost ground as he pushed her back farther and farther until a ruined wall was nearly at her back. Looking for an out, Rey saw only one option. It was something she hadn’t tried before but...

The only direction to go was up. Rey let the Force flow freely through and around her and _leapt_. Years of practice climbing served her well; she was able to kick away from the ruined wall and fly over Luke’s head, somersaulting to block his mid-air attack before landing on her feet behind him.

Finn and Poe cheered and whooped as she pressed her advantage, and in a moment, it was Luke with his back to the wall. “I yield,” he laughed, powering down his lightsaber and raising his hands. “Well done, Rey.”

She glowed at the words.

“She flew! She flew _over him_!” Finn had Poe by the shoulder and was shaking him a little. “Did you see that?”

“I saw it.” Poe caught her eye and winked before giving his attention back to Finn. “She’s amazing.”

“You’re damn right she’s amazing. Whoo!” Finn turned to Rey, his face alight with joy. “You’re amazing!”

Rey laughed, fidgeting at being the center of attention. It was inevitable on D’Qar, where being Luke’s student made her an oddity, but not here, not with her—family.

The word didn’t hurt the way it normally did, punctuated by the memory of her cries to come back. This was her family now. Maybe she would never know what happened to her birth family: why they left her, why they never came back. But Maz Kanata had been right. Her belonging was here, right here, with these three men.

Rey ran to Poe and Finn and threw her arms around both of them. Laughing, they hoisted her onto their shoulders and carried her around the training field in a victory lap, and she couldn’t stop giggling. A little embarrassed, she looked to Luke to find him standing in the same place, watching the three of them with a quiet little smile on his face.

When the boys finally put her back down, she went to Luke. He said, “Don’t get cocky, kid,” and she heard the echoes back through time and knew they were thinking of the same person.

“I’ve got you to keep me in line,” she said. 

“And keep you busy.” His demeanor shifted, becoming more business-like. “We have some trees to plant.”

They left Finn and Poe behind to climb still higher above the temple ruins. The wind was sharper the higher they went. Finally they reached the top and Rey found a circle of standing stones, weathered and chipped. Some of them had fallen over, but pattern was there. 

When she stepped into the center of the circle, a strange thing happened. There was no more wind, gone as if she had stepped into a building. An eerie quiet surrounded her, and a feeling of the Force _pouring_ up through her feet and through the air around her. It was the feeling of the island itself, only concentrated and intensified.

“How...?” She looked back to Luke, who set down the bag of supplies for planting.

“I don’t know how, but I think here’s the right place for these trees, don’t you?”

“Well I was worried about the wind at first but... yeah.” She put down the stasis pods. 

They quickly agreed on the right spots for the three cuttings. While they worked to dig the first hole, Luke said, “Eventually, we could rebuild here.”

“Rebuild the temple?”

“The temple, a school. Another academy.” He paused, looking off into some distance only he could see. “I tried to go too fast last time. I pushed the students. I pushed Ben.” He glanced over at her. “I wanted to rebuild the Jedi within a single generation. My pride cost my sister first her son, then her husband. And cost the Resistance one of its most powerful potential allies.”

“Is he very powerful?” Rey didn’t think about that fight often, except in her dreams. Deep down she knew that was a fight she shouldn’t have won, and trying to figure out why she had left her feeling uneasy.

Luke sat back from the hole they were digging, knocking the dirt from his hand and shovel. “Yes, and no. Ben was immensely strong with the Force, but impulsive, impatient. When he left, his training was nowhere near complete. I doubt whatever training he’s received since has been adequate. And I doubt even he understands what his potential could have been.” He fell quiet, then shook himself. “His potential doesn’t matter now, yours does. You’re stronger than he is, Rey, and I suspect he knows that. So you and I, we’ll work together. When you’re ready, you’ll take on a student of your own, and so we’ll rebuild the Jedi Order.”

Together they lowered the first cutting into place. “I can’t imagine teaching anyone,” Rey laughed. “I barely understand any of this.”

“You will though.” Luke’s eyes seemed to pierce through her. “You‘ll know when the time is right. And when it is, no one will be able to stand in your way.”

#

“What do you suppose is up there?” Poe looked up the ridge where Rey and Luke had gone with the tree cuttings. 

Finn came up behind him and snuck his arms around Poe’s waist. “I’m more interested in how long they might be gone.” He nuzzled Poe’s ear, making him squirm. 

Poe laughed and tilted his ear away from Finn’s searching mouth. “Hey, aren’t we supposed to be setting up camp, putting up the shelters right now?”

“We can set one up.” With Poe’s ear out of reach, Finn started kissing his neck instead. 

Poe was quickly losing interest in being responsible. They’d had hardly a minute alone since that night in the hangar, and here on Ahch-To privacy was nearly non-existent. He turned around in Finn’s arms and was lost the moment their lips touched. They seemed so perfectly matched, literally seeing eye to eye—at least when their eyes weren’t closed. 

Finn’s mouth against his was warm enough to drive away the morning’s chill, and he only got warmer still when Finn’s hands started to roam over his body. This boldness was something new and a little unexpected, but he wasn’t complaining. He broke the kiss when Finn cupped his ass. “Maybe we should stop standing out in the open, hm?”

“Good idea.” Rather than setting up a shelter, they wound up on Poe’s bedroll from the night before. Once they were lying down, Finn got a little shyer again, with just a hint of hesitation in his kisses. 

“Okay?” Poe asked. 

“Yeah.” His grin was slow but brilliant. “I wanna try something.”

Poe pulled him down to kiss that smiling, glorious mouth. “You can try anything you want, I’m all yours.” Then as if to prove his words, he lay back and put his hands behind his head. Finn swarmed over him, crouching over him and kissing him hungrily, as if permission were all he’d needed. 

“Sorry, I think my hands are cold,” Finn muttered just before sliding them under Poe’s shirt. They were, but having Finn here, so eager, more than made up for it. They’d warm soon enough. 

And Finn _was_ eager, Poe could feel him, hard against Poe’s thigh already, just from a few kisses and touches. He shifted his thigh against Finn, just to hear him gasp. Definitely eager. It was catching, judging by the way his own body responded. Then those chilly fingers tentatively found their way to Poe’s nipple, and he was the one gasping. “Oh. Cold isn’t bad. I like cold.”

Finn left icy trails over his chest and belly that faded with his body heat, and before long Finn’s hands were warm against his skin just as his lips were warm against Poe’s lips, his cheek, his neck—and then Finn was inching lower. Oh. _That_ something. 

Poe reached down to rest a hand on the back of Finn’s head as he kissed his way down Poe’s belly. When he reached Poe’s waistband, Finn looked up at him—for permission? Reassurance? 

“Anything you want,” Poe repeated, cupping his cheek. He didn’t think he’d ever get tired of Finn’s eyes, soft and brown and lit from within with all the goodness in him. Then Finn smiled crookedly and Poe realized just how far gone he was. 

After a careful glance over his shoulder, no doubt to make sure Rey and Luke were still gone, Finn started slowly unfastening Poe’s pants. Poe bit his lower lip, lifting his hips to let Finn finish the job of taking them off. 

As he watched, Finn blinked several times, running his hands up Poe’s exposed thighs. He looked awed, and the look went straight to Poe’s heart. 

Finn was a fast learner. After a few tentative touches, he leaned over Poe and traced the shape of him with his tongue before taking him into his mouth, which was shockingly warm after the outside air. 

Poe pressed a hand over his mouth to keep in the groan, but he couldn’t resist arching his hips up. He wanted to watch, to keep his eyes open, but he couldn’t, it was too much. It had been a long time since he’d done this with anything more than friendly intent, with so much of his heart already involved. He closed his eyes, but in his mind he could still see Finn, picturing the sweetness of his smile. 

Meanwhile Finn’s mouth stayed warm and soft and perfect and his hands seemed determined to find the most sensitive spots of Poe’s body. Any clumsiness due to Finn’s inexperience was irrelevant to Poe, who had to work increasingly harder to stay quiet as he writhed on his blankets. 

It was a fight he lost in the end, and by the time he climaxed he didn’t care if people heard him on D’Qar. His entire body glowed with heat like he was going supernova. Finn crawled up beside him and draped over him, nuzzling at his ear. 

“How’d I do?” Finn asked, but he was grinning. 

Despite being sated—for now—Poe _wanted_. He wanted to get back to D’Qar, where they could have privacy and a proper bed and oh, _time_. Time for a million things Poe wanted to share with him, in bed and out of it. But for now, he could still feel how hard Finn was, pressed against his bare leg.

Finn gasped gratifyingly when Poe reached for him. He was still wearing his pants and that just wasn’t acceptable. Poe took care of that quickly and pulled Finn closer. “Come here.”

Poe settled Finn on top of him, reaching with one hand to pull him down for a kiss, while his other guided Finn where he wanted him, tucked in the heat between his thighs. 

“That’s…” Finn breathed, closing his eyes. 

“Yes.”

Pressed belly-to-belly they started to move together, Finn sliding against Poe’s skin until they were both slick and heated. Poe kissed away every gasp and cry Finn made, wanting to keep them for himself. 

Finn buried his face against Poe’s neck and froze, overcome by the force of his climax. Poe spared a rueful thought for the blankets beneath him before cradling Finn in his arms as he came back to the here and now.

“I keep thinking you can’t get more amazing, and you do anyway,” Finn murmured.

“Your fault for being irresistible,” Poe teased.

“I am not irresistible.”

“Yes you are, just ask—” Something on Finn’s face made him stop.

“Not irresistible,” Finn repeated and kissed him gently. “But you are amazing.”

Finn settled against him, curled in his arms. Poe couldn’t settle as easily. Should he ask? Finn didn’t seem especially _bothered_ , and it really wasn’t any of his business what Finn and Rey did. But at the same time, if Finn was frustrated with Rey, it would explain why he’d been so quick to—

No. Finn wouldn’t do that. Poe pressed a kiss to the top of Finn’s head. It did remind him how different their lives had been, and how much older he was. Maybe he was too old for this. For them. But lying here now, with Finn in his arms, the last thing he wanted was to think and worry about doing the right thing. He was just selfish enough for that.

#

They didn’t have long to cuddle, but Finn tried to make it last as long as he could. He was, he had decided, the luckiest man in the galaxy. When he was stuck on the _Finalizer_ , he’d watched the officers, looking at how they interacted with each other. Officer romance was a popular topic of gossip among the stormtroopers. Most of them put up a front of disdain, mocking the emotional weakness of anyone who wasn’t a stormtrooper. Finn wondered now how many of them, like him, watched the officers fall in love, fall out of love, fall in love again, and wondered what it would be like. Wondered what a connection to another living soul might be.

Finn didn’t have to wonder anymore. He’d found not just one, but two people to love. He nuzzled at Poe’s hair and tried not to worry that it was all some sort of clerical error on the part of the galaxy. 

“Hey,” Poe murmured, sounding a little sleepy. “We should get those shelters up.”

The shelters were up just before Rey and Luke came back down the ridge. Rey was luminous, her eyes on fire with whatever had happened up there. She took Finn’s breath away. He glanced over at Poe to see what he thought. Poe wasn’t looking at Rey, he was looking at him, and Finn caught the strangest, saddest look on Poe’s face. He raised his eyebrow in concern, but the look vanished, replaced with a smile.

Finn had no time to press further. They got caught up in finishing the camp set up, while Rey told them about planting the trees. She turned to Luke. “Can we take them up there later to show them?”

Luke smiled at her. “You can, but they won’t feel what you do up there.”

“Oh.” She was crestfallen. 

Poe came to her rescue, throwing his arm around her shoulders. “I wanna see what you did with my tree anyway.”

“ _Your_ tree?” Rey laughed and gave him a little shove. “How is it yours?”

Unfazed, Poe kept up the charm offensive. “I grew up under that tree! Used to climb it every day, had my first kiss there, had my first—well, never mind that. It’s as much my tree as anybody’s.”

Rey’s ears were adorably pink. “Okay fine. We’ll go up there later.”

She kept her word, and after they’d eaten dinner she led Finn and Poe up the rocky cliffside. A few times Finn worried he was going to get blown off the side of the cliff, but Rey climbed like a natural and showed them the easiest paths. Luke must have been tougher than he looked to make the trip.

They reached the top, and she showed them the circle of stones, and the three tiny seedlings now growing in the soil. Luke was right, Finn didn’t feel anything different here at all, unless it was the feeling he got looking at Rey. She was so in her element here. It was hard not to look at her like a—like a goddess.

Poe made a show of inspecting the tiny trees and nodding his approval. “Just one question, how come the wind stopped?”

“It’s the stones,” Rey said. “Something about the way they channel the Force up here.” She spun in place, her head back. “Neither of you can feel that?”

Poe shrugged. “It’s almost like… the air’s a little warmer?”

Finn looked at him wide-eyed. “Really? You can feel it?”

“My mom always said the best pilots have at least a little bit of the Force on their side.” 

Rey came over to Finn and took his hand, and motioned Poe over to take the other. “Close your eyes, Finn,” she said. “Just let your mind drift. What do you feel?”

At first, he felt their hands in his, the sweet warmth of connection, of belonging. 

It felt good. Peaceful. A low hum started to vibrate under his feet, just below the threshold of his hearing. It surrounded him, slowly getting a little louder like something coming closer. 

_The ocean in front of him disappears, replaced by dark skies punctuated by red blaster bolts. The ground shifts, and he is running, running as hard as he ever has in his life._

_He’s too late, much too late. There are bodies on the ground and a black figure turns, waving the crackling red lightsaber he still sees in his nightmares, in the scars he bears._

_“Get away from them!” Rage, so much rage flowing through him. It’s dark and he can smell smoke from a massive fire, it’s how the world smelled on Jakku when the village burned. Everything is red and orange and black and all he can do is scream…_

_-…finn?_

That wasn’t Rey’s voice or Poe’s voice. It was Luke’s voice. Inside his head.

He gasped and opened his eyes. He was on his knees in the center of the standing stones, Rey and Poe each crouched beside him.

Rey was staring at him. “You felt that, right?”

“I—what was that?”

Poe looked between the two of them, shaking his head. “I didn’t feel anything. You just… crumpled.”

A slightly breathless Luke came up the steep path, and his attention zeroed in on Finn. “That’s impossible…” he muttered, as if to himself, coming closer. 

“What happened?” Rey asked. “Is he all right?”

Finn’s head was spinning. Everything was too loud around him. The hum he thought he’d heard before was a roar, like being too close to a ship’s engine just before lift-off.

Luke crouched next to him, his hand hovering just over Finn’s forehead. “How do you feel, Finn?” His tone of voice was carefully measured, not asking him if he were ill, but asking something deeper. 

“It’s loud,” Finn said, then realized he was trying to shout over the noise in his head. His heart was racing out of control and the world felt a thousand times bigger.

“It will get better.”

“What is it?”

Luke sat back on his haunches, and looked up at Rey. “I knew when you found the lightsaber,” he said. “I felt it. Felt your mind, like you’d been asleep on Jakku for years. Dormant and waiting. That was the start for you.”

Finn waited for him to make sense.

It didn’t happen.

“Finn,” Luke went on, “I don’t know how, or why. But I felt the same thing from you, just now.”

Poe stood and took a step back. “Wait wait wait. Are you saying Finn’s a _Jedi_ now?”

“No.” Luke wore a shrewd grin as he looked at Finn. “Not yet. But if he wanted to be…”

“But I’m nobody,” Finn blurted.

“So was I.” Rey squeezed his shoulder.

“I was just another farmboy,” Luke added. “For whatever reason, you and Rey had your potential blocked at an early age. With you, that’s not so hard to fathom. Taken by the First Order so young, going through their conditioning.” His eyes hardened at his words. “I imagine we lost many young minds to them.”

“But… what do I do?” Finn looked between Rey and Poe, unable to face looking at Luke Skywalker, of all people, just now.

“You can train with me!” Rey grabbed his arms, her smile blinding. 

Poe’s smile was tight around the edges, but he held out his hand to help Poe up. “Sounds like you can do whatever you want to, buddy.”

Why was that so terrifying?


End file.
